Are you prepared for the unexpected?

It happens to everyone at some point. You get sick, someone in your family gets sick, you have a power failure, a broken computer, or something completely unexpected throws you for a loop and puts you behind.

Last week was a terribly sad week for my husband and me. We lost our beloved pet unexpectedly, and were certainly not prepared to say goodbye to her. And as it most likely would for anyone else, this unexpected event caused a bit of disruption in my daily routine and business.

Fortunately, this was not a major crisis or illness that prevented me from managing my own business for a long period of time. But had it been, I would have had peace of mind knowing my business is built on solid systems, and supported by very capable team members able to step in and take care of business.

If and when things like this do happen, it’s a tremendous blessing to know I have people in my corner who have access to the back end of my business … my calendar, login information, files and anything else needed to keep my business humming along like it should when my heart and brain are elsewhere. If you’re in business for yourself, I sincerely urge you to have systems in place for when the unexpected happens to you; because it will happen. I certainly hope you never have to experience anything tragic; but none of us is immune from the odd curve ball thrown by life. The following are some things you should consider documenting and systematizing so you can rest easy when life “happens” and takes you out of your business for a period of time.

Email. In today’s virtual world, all business owners rely on email for one thing or another. If you’re going to be away, you need to have someone responsible for managing this while you’re away. This can be as simple as giving a trusted friend or team member access to your Gmail account or web mail. Depending on how long you might be out of commission, you might want to have a team member monitoring and responding to important email, and an “out of the office” autoresponder in place to let people know you’re away, and who else they can contact. Using Outlook or another computer-based email system? Then you might consider setting up a remote access program like LogMeIn so someone else can monitor your email for you.

Social Media. Consider adding an admin person to your Hootsuite account (or whatever scheduling app you use) and Facebook page so if something happens to take you away from your business, your social media activity can still remain active and not take a huge hit.

Blog. Make sure you have a backup or someone with access to your blog to step in and cover for you. Having a few backup articles a team member can access and publish while you’re away will ensure your blog continues to have fresh content.

Calendar. Using a shared calendar like Google can be real life-saver! Knowing you’ve got someone on hand to monitor your calendar and reschedule any appointments impacted by your time away can be a huge stress relief!

Project management. All of my clients and team members are in Basecamp, the project management tool we use to keep track of our client projects. All of the project and task details for whatever we are doing with each client, our milestones and deadlines, as well as important files are documented in the system so it’s accessible by everyone involved. Having a project management system in place keeps everything everyone needs to know about what’s going on with a client in one central location to ensure continuity, as well as the ability for your team to continue providing excellent service in your absence.

These are just a few of the areas we have systems in place for BizEase Support Solutions. We love putting systems in place, so it only makes sense that we would have a great one for ourselves. These systems can be as simple or as detailed as you need them to be. Whether you’re setting up systems to handle tasks and services on a daily basis, or systems in the background to handle something out of the ordinary, it’s always a good idea to have them in place.

And heck, you might even want to take an extended vacation from time to time … off-grid and off-line!

Do you have any questions about how to systematize your business?

Want to Turn Time Into Money?

DON'T MISS ANOTHER TIP!

Sign up below to get our weekly tips ezine delivered to your inbox every Friday ... short, sweet and easy to read. Great time-saving tips and resources you can start using right NOW to make life easier and get your marketing message out to the masses. Tips on plugins, apps, and tools to make you more productive today!

BONUS DOWNLOAD: Discover the top 15 ways an online marketing specialist can help you turn time into money, and clear your plates of the tasks and services that prevent you from doing what you do best … bringing in the clients and bringing home the bacon!

Download your free report and find out how you can get your life back. Today!

In business since 1991, Terry Green is the founder/CEO/President of BizEase Support Solutions, an American-based, online marketing support company comprised of a team of talented professionals from around North America. BizEase excels at providing speakers and business coaches worldwide with seamless online marketing solutions, from setting up shopping carts and editing video, to writing blog posts and managing Social Media and PR campaigns. BizEase clients (who span five continents) take great joy in allowing the BizEase team to take care of the details so they can get back to doing what they do best! Click here to get our weekly tips ezine delivered to your inbox every Friday, with tips on plugins, apps, and tools to make you more productive today!
Follow Terry on G+

Thank you Jane … I appreciate it. Although it didn’t take me out and away from my business, it reminded me of a couple of times in the past when I’ve had to be away for an extended period of time – and how thankful I was to know my business was being taken care of while I was away. Whether it’s support you have on a daily basis or just backup, something we all need to have in place.

So sorry for your loss Terry. And thank you for this reminder of how it’s so important to have systems and structures in place in our businesses for the unexpected moments of life. I would even add, that having those systems and structures can pay off any time, because even when you’re not absent, when they are available to your team members, they know much better what to do – in all circumstances – and that shows in your business too. I try to structure and have systems in all my businesses, and it didn’t always use to be like this… since I’ve taken this to heart, everything has been going so much better and smoother!

Thank you Murielle. And you are correct about the need for systems whether you are absent or not. Good systems provide continuity and clarity, and will provide great benefit in the long run. In my opinion, systems are always good!

TIME = MONEY!

Want to Turn Time Into Money?

Download our FREE Report on 15 Ways An Online Marketing Specialist Can Help You Turn Time Into Money! Get back to doing what you do best ...bringing in the clients and bringing home the bacon!

Also get our weekly tips ezine delivered to your inbox every Friday; short, sweet, easy to read. Time-saving tips on plugins, apps, and tools to make you more productive today!

CONNECT WITH TERRY!

GET FREE UPDATES!

Never miss a blog post again. Enter your email address below and we'll let you know each time we publish a new post!